The House has passed a bill its supporters say is designed to shield children from sexually explicit material.
Opponents have called it censorship.
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor (R-Dickinson) authored HB 1205. He said he did so after learning that "a couple of libraries" were maintaining sexually explicit material that could be accessed by children.
"I believe we need to send a message that we will not tolerate, now or ever, these kinds of books in our public libraries," Lefor said. "I am a believer in local control. But when local control doesn't do the job, that's when we need to step in. The libraries need to understand we will not stand for this stuff. This is North Dakota — we don't do things that way."
Opponents argued this should remain a matter of local — and parental — control.
"If you are still concerned about kids accessing certain material, we already have a process in place to address that too — it's called parenting," said Rep. Karla Rose Hanson (D-Fargo).
The bill passed 65 to 28 — and now goes to the Senate, which has passed its own version of this bill.
